One is an old, unattractive and very obviously unloved pet, and the other, young, beautiful and a darling of HK paparazzi. They are Renee the "Tong Gau" and Lisa Selesner (Lisa S) the international model. "Tong Gau" is the Cantonese term for multi-bred, or mongrel dogs, that would be Renee; incidentally, Lisa S is also a multi-bred in human term, she is part French, Chinese, and Jewish-American.
The two met on one fine day in March at the Hong Kong Dog Rescue (HKDR), when HK celebrity Daniel Wu and his girlfriend Lisa S visited the kennel, looking for a possible companion for their bulldog Buddy. With 200 dogs vying for the humans' love and attention, Lisa S claimed that she felt a connection with old girl Renee, a resident of kennel no. B2 (above pic). She can't stop thinking about Renee, even dreaming about the old girl! With Renee already in her heart, the little "Tong Gau" officially became part of Lisa S' family a week later. Not a bad score Renee!
Renee was abandoned by her previous owner because she was deemed to be 'too old' - 11 years, has been with HKDR for about 10 months. Renee was looking at living out her twilight years at the kennel in a cramped and crowded condition, battling younger, stronger dogs for food and space. Even though she has acquired pretty good intimidating skills over the years, Renee will eventually be weak and slow - she will have no energy to get to the treats, she will be forced out of her favourite resting spot, and she would be lucky to be taken out for a walk more than once a day.
In branding mad HK where multi-bred humans are hot but multi-bred dogs are not, pet lovers usually take the pedigree types home. The chances of a mongrel being homed is always slim, time that by two for older dogs, so Lisa S has my applause for giving an old dog a second chance to life.
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